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Chapter LII
In Which Lord Steyne
Shows Himself in a
Most Amiable Light
When Lord Steyne was benevolently disposed, he did
nothing by halves, and his kindness towards the Crawley
family did the greatest honour to his benevolent discrimina-
tion. His lordship extended his good-will to little Rawdon:
he pointed out to the boy’s parents the necessity of sending
him to a public school, that he was of an age now when em-
ulation, the first principles of the Latin language, pugilistic
exercises, and the society of his fellow-boys would be of the
greatest benefit to the boy. His father objected that he was
not rich enough to send the child to a good public school;
his mother that Briggs was a capital mistress for him, and
had brought him on (as indeed was the fact) famously in
English, the Latin rudiments, and in general learning: but
all these objections disappeared before the generous per-
severance of the Marquis of Steyne. His lordship was one
of the governors of that famous old collegiate institution
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